Thursday, October 23, 2014

Communist All-stars Reign at Statue Park, Budapest

October 23, 1989, Hungary became an independent republic after 33 years of Soviet rule. Ironically, Soviet troops saw themselves as liberators in 1945 when they marched in, freeing Hungary from Nazi domination. Therein lies one of the great ironies of history: A country being freed from one totalitarian regime by another such regime.

When a regime falls, so do its monuments, notes Rick Steves, leading authority on European travel.

In the decades since Communism crumbled, Hungarians have resisted the impulse to demolish the statuary white elephants from the Soviets, collecting them instead in Momento Park, an outdoor museum on the outskirts of Budapest.

I managed to visit Momento Park one recent spring. Care to join me for a look around? First, here's Rick Steves and The Communist All-Stars of Statue Park.

Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union and Prime Minister.

The German philosophers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels co-authored The Manifesto of the Communist Party.

The Soviet commander who liberated Budapest, February 1945, ordered a massive Liberation Monument of which this Soviet soldier was part.

Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Memorial: Ah yes, we get the body-language.

Vladimir Lenin: The man does get around.

Workers' Movement Memorial: Dedicated in 1976, as a symbol of the social and political results of the last three decades.

Monument to Hungarian fighters in the Spanish International Brigades. Umm, okay. . .

The dutiful worker is honored here with the Republic of Councils Statue.
Since then, it has been dubbed The Cloak-room Attendant, shouting, Madam, you've forgotten something!

Happy Birthday! For his 70th birthday 1949, Hungarians gave Stalin the grandest statue of all. . himself up on a pedestal.

Sadly, to some at least, the Stalin statue was short-lived. The Hungarians revolted in 1956, demolishing the statue, a rather bold gesture but likely a response to the changing winds of politics in Moscow. It was Soviet leader Nikita Kruzhchev who began de-Stalinization after Stalin's death in 1953, first with his anti-Stalin speech to communist leaders in February, 1956. Later that year, the Hungarians revolted.

The Stalin monument was blown up in October, 1956 and only the boots remained. Here's the Momento Park replica of those boots.

Monument to the Martyrs of the Counter-Revolution, referring to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a dark chapter in national history.

How wonderful that the grandchildren of those who witnessed the Communist era in Hungary can now visit Momento Park and catch a glimpse of their political heritage.